


Warm and Tender

by Capsicle



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi's asshole brother is also implied, Another thing I planned to make more obvious but failed gloriously, Bad Days, BokuAka is implied but can be read as them being friends, But oh well I'm actually pretty satisfied with the outcome, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Even though I tried to make it more romantic whoops, Fluff, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No really this isn't even really shippy it's just those guys hugging, So in the end this is just 2000 words of Akaashi feeling things, so many hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 08:05:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14208804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capsicle/pseuds/Capsicle
Summary: Akaashi is havig a bad day and just wants to go home. Bokuto doesn't let him flee so easily.Featuring warm hugs, soft hair and Bokuto being an irreplaceable sweetheart.





	Warm and Tender

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ileos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ileos/gifts).



Akaashi was having a bad day.  
It had started with an almost sleepless night, proceeded with a skipped breakfast and a dull school day and now there was little to no hope that his day would get any better as soon as practice was over. His brother was always in the worst mood after his demanding work schedule on Wednesdays and there was no chance that he wouldn’t take out his frustration on his younger brother like he was always doing.

Akaashi had hoped that at least the training itself would be able to distract him from everything looming around in his head but instead it was the most exhausting it had been for months.  
Not even physically straining, that kind of fatigue was easy to bear, Akaashi even welcomed it on days like these. It would keep his mind from racing and gradually slowed him down until his body was drenched in sweat and his head seemed to be wrapped into absorbent cotton. To tired to think, his limbs relying on instinct more than on what his brain was trying to tell them.  
There were also days on which he barely broke a sweat outside of warm up, but which were a different kind of strenuous. Mentally demanding, challenging him to think, to make quick decisions, to analyze and strategize, keeping him concentrated and immensely focused on everything that was happening on the court. No time or capacity left to brood over anything else, as distractive as it might be.

But today was none of these kinds of exhausting, the last two hours had been just awfully and horrendously unnerving. The kind of atmosphere that made the little throb in the back of his head transform into a splitting headache and Akaashi was on the brink of either racing out of the hall to hide somewhere dark and narrow or actually strangling one of his teammates.  
Probably Bokuto. 

It wasn’t even that Akaashi was actually mad at him, he didn’t really understand how anyone could be genuinely mad at Bokuto at all. It was just that his teammate was a special kind of extra today and it was draining.  
Akaashi knew that Bokuto’s mood swings were something not to be joked about too much because while it might seem like he was playing the drama queen, the truth was that he just wore his feelings on his sleeve. He never meant to fish for compliments he just naturally needed a lot of reassurance. And Akaashi would normally be happy to give that to him. Especially with how often the other had been close to slithering into emo-mode in the last eighty minutes. It was pretty obvious that his day wasn’t really passing as smoothly he would wish to either.

It wasn’t like Akaashi didn’t get this or didn’t care, the opposite was the case. All he wanted was to sincerely compliment his spikes and raise his morale like he normally would. But it was so hard to sound authentic when what he wanted most at the moment was to drop dead on the spot and never speak to anyone again.  
And then there was this tiny and annoying voice in his head that kept nagging about how unfair it was that Bokuto’s bad day was more important than his own.

…

When practice finally ended, Akaashi was ready to die. Instead, he managed a nod in the vague direction of where most of his teammates were standing, talking in little groups and collectively relaxing their muscles.

“Nice work, everyone”, he uttered and hoped that tiredness or his reserved character in general could be held responsible for the note of bitterness in his voice.  
He proceeded walking over to his bag, changed his shoes, threw on a jacket and was almost ready to flee the hall before he was stopped by a voice, far too loud for his taste.

“Oooy, Akaashi!! How was I?”

Bokuto. Of course. He draped himself over the bench where the whole team’s stuff was piled up and accidentally wiped off two bags and a jacket with his little stunt. Akaashi didn’t even assemble the strength to scold him and just concentrated on forcing a weak smile.

“You were amazing. That last spike was really good.”

Bokuto’s eyes went wide with joy and his mouth curled into a bright smile. He pushed himself off of the bench with way more power than necessary and bounced up and down like a five year old.

“You really think so?”, he asked gleefully and Akaashi only barely hid a sigh.

“Yes. You were great.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek and his gaze automatically flew in the direction of the doors. “But uhm, I have to go now, so… Excuse me.” 

He took his bag and turned away from Bokuto and the rest of the team, heading straight to the exit of the hall. He was scared that he had sounded offensive, especially towards an upperclassman, as close as Bokuto and him may be.  
But he just had to get out of here. His hands were already shivering as he walked towards the door, and his heart was hammering like mad. He was concentrating so hard on breathing that he didn’t hear the fast footsteps approaching him. And let out a surprised little yelp when he was suddenly pulled into a crushing bear hug from behind.

Akaashi didn’t know how he did it but Bokuto’s hugs always managed it to let himself feel so much smaller than the other boy even though there was barely a three-centimeter difference separating them. Maybe it was because of his shoulders. They were broad and strong and Akaashi couldn’t fight the instinct to lean back on them, if only for a second.  
Bokuto was warm and a bit sweaty and still in his jersey and shorts and they were standing on the stairs directly in front of the door…  
Akaashi silently sighed and wriggled himself out of the embrace. 

“What was that for?”, he asked and even if he’d wanted to sound defensive, his voice wouldn’t have cooperated. Instead, it just sounded flat and tired and a bit shaky.

“You look sad”, Bokuto explained. “Wait for me, I’m getting my stuff!”

Akaashi had barely stepped out of the entrance zone when Bokuto came sprinting back, still in the same shirt and pants but with his outside shoes and his bag and jacket slung over an arm.

“Want me to walk with you?” It sounded more than a proposal than a question.

“No, it’s fine.” 

Akaashi didn’t want company right now. He had waited the whole day to get a few minutes of quiet. Bokuto seemed to know better though.

“You don’t like to be alone on days like this”, he insisted and Akaashi was far to tired to actually discuss this right now.  
That he just didn’t want his friend to worry, that he was alright, just tired, just in need of some quiet hours in his room without anyone bothering him. Desperately hoping that the next day would leave him with a better feeling. He managed a sigh and stared onto the floor.

“You think too much”, Bokuto said. “Let me walk with you, I won’t even say anything!”

And he didn’t. He didn’t say a word the whole way back and strangely enough this was the perfect balance between support and solitude Akaashi needed.

…

When they arrived in his street, Bokuto stopped and tugged on Akaashi’s sleeve to make him do the same. Akaashi paused and looked at him, slightly confused. He couldn’t really place the other’s facial expression, it was somewhere between worry and affection. Or maybe something entirely different, fact was only that the way his round amber eyes were fixated on Akaashi’s face was slightly unfamiliar to him and made him blush without even knowing why.

He wanted to say something, wanted to ask what’s wrong but before he succeeded to piece some words together in his mind, there were suddenly these strong arms again. Pulling him into a hug, surrounding him, supporting him and this time, Akaashi relaxed almost instantly.  
He let his head fall against Bokuto’s shoulder, dug his fingers in the fabric of his shirt. Felt the other’s breath on his neck, felt a heart pounding against his chest and wasn’t sure whose it was, felt the warmth of another body against his and then the soft touch of Bokuto’s hand against the back of his head, fingers gently stroking his scalp and twisting single strands of hair between each other.

For a split second, Akaashi felt like crying but after a few shaky breaths there was suddenly a strange tranquility spreading through his body, making him lose his clenched grip on the other’s shirt and when Bokuto eventually let go of him, it had arrived in his mind as well, making it almost effortless to offer the other an earnest little smile.

“Are you feeling better?”, Bokuto asked quietly, not hugging him anymore, but hands still on his shoulders and close enough that Akaashi had to actually tilt his head a little to look him in the eyes, despite being not much shorter than his teammate.

“Yes”, he answered. “Thank you.”

He took a step back, looking at Bokuto, the warmth of the hug still lingering around him. 

“I’m sorry for worrying you”, he then said because Bokuto’s face still looked a bit more tense than usual. “I just had an off-day.”

Bokuto grinned and even if that was so much more familiar to Akaashi, it somehow still didn’t make his wildly pounding heart calm down. 

“Happens to the best, huh?”, Bokuto cheered, his eyes twinkling and his voice laughing and Akaashi finally averted his gaze because he couldn’t look at him anymore without blushing like a middle school girl, apparently.

“Hm”, he murmured. “Just need a good night’s sleep is all.”

“Yeah!”, Bokuto agreed energetically. “Try to relax. We need you in top form tomorrow!” He cleared his throat, a bit awkwardly, and added: “And besides that, I can’t stand it when you’re upset, so…”

Akaashi looked up, surprised, face definitely flushed pink now, and nodded. 

“Sure”, he said, nervously fidgeted his fingers as the silence began to grow more and more uncomfortable.  
Bokuto cleared his throat again and looked at him in a way that made it seem as if he just remembered something he had forgotten.  
But he didn’t say more than a quick “Well, okay then, see you tomorrow, Akaashi!”.

And Akaashi wasn’t sure if it was the sound of his own name out of the other’s mouth or the fact that he turned around to leave but something, some kind of persistent instinct, made him open his mouth and call out “Wait” and pull Bokuto into another hug before he even realized what he was doing.

It lasted a lot shorter than the last two embraces, just Akaashi briefly putting his arms around Bokuto’s neck and extending his hand to shyly ruffle his hair – it felt unexpectedly soft, even after penetration with what must have been tons of hair product and two hours of sweat-inducing training. He let go after what couldn’t have been more than two seconds but Bokuto stared at him as if he’d just dug up a golden treasure chest.  
His eyes were wide and curious and he smiled so brightly that his nose was crinkling a bit. Akaashi swallowed hard before he finally phrased the words he knew he should have told the other far earlier because he meant them, he earnestly, truly meant them, especially today:

“Seriously, Bokuto. Thank you. You’re really great. I’m… glad to have you!”

Bokuto’s whole face lit up into a beaming smile.

“I’m glad to have you, too, Akaashi!”

The warmth arising in Akaashi’s chest after those words was enough to get him through the evening with the reassuring feeling in mind that this day might have been not as bad as first thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo, first of all thank you for reading!!
> 
> I wanted to write some BokuAka after slowly discovering the stunning beauty of this pairing. Then I remembered that [villaintohero's](https://ofourown.org/users/villaintohero/pseuds/villaintohero) birthday would be due soon, so I thought: Hey, why not write something for her!  
> I originally planned to make this way more shippy and romantic but my oneshots always do whatever they want when they're not completely well-planned so here you go with whatever that is.  
> Also thanks for all the headcanons you and [skatty](https://ofourown.org/users/skatty/pseuds/skatty) shared with me about those two!  
> On that note happy birthday, daddy Schmidt! I hope you enjoyed reading^^


End file.
